Bey's Council (ETW building)

A constitutional monarch’s powers are limited by law, as are those of appointed governors. Visible consultation can ease the use even of these limited powers.

While the people do not have to be listened to, it is a wise course of action to consult them in local matters. The process may be real or a fig leaf, but one result is that the council takes the blame for poor decisions, not the Crown and its governors, beys or thalurs! The propertied classes and local dignitaries on the council almost certainly owe their advisory status entirely to their wealth or social position: democracy may play a part, but the franchise is likely to be very limited indeed. The lower social orders are unlikely to be given any say in how they are governed.

This lack of broad consultation is not as bad as it sounds. The government cannot overstep the bounds of its power. There is a contract (or even an informal understanding) between government and governed as to what the Crown may do without the consent of the people (the people being those with a stake in the country – men of property in other words). Historically, this is essentially the model that the British arrived at: the King and his ministers ruled, but needed Parliament to raise taxes and pay for everything!